Confusion
by Panda1912
Summary: After a lot of bus rides and a name mix-up, Percy and Annabeth finally get together. (Crap summary, sorry.) [one-shot for now, might become two-shot]


**First thing's first; I need to explain more about the concept of this one-shot. PLEASE READ THIS FIRST; it could be potentially _very_ important. I think it's different in America, someone told me that you go to school depending on where you live or a private school. But where I'm from, for example, it's a lot different. **

**I live in a village, and there are no secondary schools there (Grades 7-12 if you're American). The nearest town is 10-15 minute's drive away and there are three secondary school in the town; an all girls' school, an all boys' school and a mixed. You can pick whichever school (obviously, girls can't go to the boys' school and vice versa) you want to go to. I go to the mixed, like my older brother, but my older sister goes to the all girls school.**

 **So in this story, there are only two schools, an all girls' and an all boys'.** **That's why Annabeth and Percy don't go to the same school.**

 **Hope that made sense,**

 **Panda1912**

* * *

 _Confusion_

It all started one day when Annabeth sat down behind two boys her age. The bus was fairly full, so there wasn't much choice of seating. Annabeth was lucky enough to get a seat alone. The black haired boy in front of her said something about Juniper Woods, a girl in Annabeth's year to his friend.

"Shut up Jackson," his friend had replied, blushing slightly.

"I'm just messing with you Grover," Jackson had said then.

Annabeth determined that their names were Grover and Jackson. At the next stop, her friend Silena, who was in the year above her, climbed onto the bus. She spotted Annabeth and the free seat next to her and asked her the silent question. Annabeth nodded, smiling.

"Thanks Bethie," Silena had said, squeezing into the seat. "The bus is so full."

"Don't call me 'Bethie'," Annabeth had replied, scowling slightly.

"Hey Silena," Jackson had called out.

"Hey boys," Silena said. "This is my friend Beth. She's in your year in my school."

Annabeth had frowned at her friend before turning to the boys.

"Hey Beth," Jackson had grinned.

Not bothered to correct him, she just nodded in return. From there, a beautiful and confusing friendship had bloomed.

* * *

"And then my mom said 'you're such an idiot-'"

"That's 'cause you _are_ an idiot Jackson," Annabeth said, sliding into her usual seat.

The black haired boy in front of her scowled at her before turning back to his friend.

"Did you ever find your jumper?" his friend asked.

Jackson scowled even more.

"It was in the hamper, like she had said," he admitted.

Both Annabeth and the friend started to laugh.

"Shut up Beth. And shut up Grover!"

Annabeth settled back into her seat. It was a normal day, riding the bus to school. It had been a while since Silena had introduced them all and they were good friends now. They always spoke on the bus on the trip to and from school, apart from those days where Annabeth couldn't manage to grab a seat near the two of them. Silena always joined her in the morning, but stayed for after school study.

"Hey," Grover said, twisting in his seat to look at her. "What's your SnapChat name?"

"Why?"

"I finally convinced him to download it," Jackson said.

"You mean you never had it before?" Annabeth asked, kind of shocked. SnapChat was probably the most used social media app at the moment.

"Nah. Didn't really want it."

"My name is _beth_chase,_ no caps or spaces."

"I see you, just added you," Grover told her.

Sure enough, Annabeth's phone pinged with the notification.

"How on Earth did you get _groverunderwood_ as your username? It's literally your name," she asked in disbelief.

"Grover Underwood isn't exactly the most common name in the world," Grover smirked.

Annabeth's phone pinged again.

"Someone else has added me. Who is _perseusthehero_?"

"That's me," Jackson said.

"As in Perseus, the Greek hero?" she asked.

"The only hero to get a happy ending," he said, by way of reply.

"So you named your SnapChat after the Greek hero?" she wondered, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Something like that," Jackson replied.

"What should I change your names to?" Annabeth asked.

"Just Grover is fine," Grover replied, almost nervously.

Annabeth nodded and typed that in. Then she turned to Jackson.

"Show me," Jackson said, indicating to her phone.

Reluctantly, Annabeth handed her phone over. Jackson had scrunched his eyes up, thinking for a minute. Then he began rapidly typing. Finally he handed back her phone. She looked at what he had set his name to and rolled her eyes. **My Hero** , followed by a heart eye emoji.

"Do you have a God Complex or something? Why are you obsessed with your own heroism?" she asked teasingly.

Jackson shrugged.

"What will I set your name to?" he asked her.

"I don't mind," she replied.

He began typing before showing her the finished project. I was **Beth** followed by the revolving heart emoji. She sighed and rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile slightly.

Annabeth settled back into her seat, and Grover and Jackson continued their conversation. A moment later, the bus pulled up outside Annabeth's school.

"Bye boys," she said cheerfully.

"Bye Beth," she could hear Jackson call after her.

* * *

Annabeth texted Jackson often. Actually, scratch that. They were always sending each other ugly selfies on SnapChat, texting about the most random topics on the planet. Her friends only knew him as 'the boy on my bus' and, despite his and Annabeth's constant picture exchanging, they had never seen a picture of him. It was currently lunch time and Annabeth's phone pinged. She couldn't help but roll her eyes yet again as she read the name that Jackson had picked for himself.

 **My Hero-** _Annabeth?_ the text read, accompanied by a picture of Jackson looking at something to the left of the camera.

 **Me-** _Yes? s_ he replied with a double chin selfie.

 **My Hero-** _This is going to sound weird, alright?_

 **Me-** _Umm... okay?_

 **My Hero-** _My friends want to see a picture of you, but all I have are a few double chin selfies_

 **Me-** _And?_

 **My Hero-** _I was wondering if you could send a picture of your face where you're_ not _pulling a face?_

 **Me-** _I guess._

 **Me-** _Wait until you get blown away by my pure model face_

Annabeth lifted her phone up slightly. She felt awkward taking a picture of herself, which was why she always pulled faces. She tried to imagine that she was modelling ironically, like when people were jokingly taking selfies. It worked slightly and she felt a bit more relaxed taking the picture. She pressed the circle and examined the picture critically. It could've been worse, she supposed, and shrugged her shoulders. She sent it before she could doubt herself further. A moment later, she received a notification that Percy had screenshotted it.

 **My Hero-** _Thank you!_ was the caption on a close-up picture of him smiling with his eyes crinkled shut.

 **Me-** _Guess who you could say I'm_ your _hero_

* * *

Since the bus always pulled up at the girls school first, it made sense that they were first on after school. Annabeth sat in her usual seat by the window on the left hand side. There were two empty seats in front of her for Grover and Jackson. She was glad that most people sat in the same seats most of the time.

The bus pulled up outside the boys' school and the doors opened. Annabeth could see a steady stream of boys in the same uniform. She was surprised when Jackson sat down next to her as the bus set off.

"Hey," she said. "Where's Grover? He was on the bus this morning."

"He joined the school's Green Club," Jackson explained.

"I'm pretty sure that our schools have a joint Green Club," Annabeth said slowly.

"Yeah, I think so."

"I'm also pretty sure that Juniper Woods is in the Green Club," Annabeth added.

Jackson grinned. By now, Annabeth knew all about Grover's crush on the resident Green Girl. Annabeth was happy for him. Juniper was one of the nicest girls Annabeth had ever met, and she was just as eco crazy as Grover was.

Jackson pulled out his phone and typed in his password. But before he could press into SnapChat, Annabeth snatched his phone off him.

"Hey!" he complained.

"Is that your mom?" she asked in awe.

"Um, yeah," he said, scratching that back of his neck nervously.

"That's so cute!" she gushed.

The background of Jackson's home screen was a picture of him and his mother. He was slightly taller than her, probably due to his excessive. Annabeth wasn't the smallest girl in her year and he was at least half a foot taller than her, if not more. His mom didn't really look much like him. She had long, brown hair and different facial features. Annabeth couldn't tell what eye colour Jackson's mom had from the photo, but could see Jackson's telltale green eyes, even in the photo. She deduced that his mom didn't share the same bright, beautiful green eyes.

"But this isn't your lock screen?" Annabeth asked, confused.

"No," Jackson shook his head. "My lock screen is just black."

"That's so boring,"Annabeth whined.

"I know, but I don't know what to set it as."

"A picture of me," Annabeth said teasingly.

"Alright," Jackson said smiling.

"What?" Annabeth looked slightly shocked. "I was only messing."

"But I'm not, come on."

He balanced the phone precariously between the two seats in front him.

"We'll have to squeeze in. If I take it landscape, one of our faces will be covered by the time."

Annabeth nodded and pressed up next to him. Still, only half of each of their faces were in the picture.

"Okay, try again," Jackson said.

He put his arm around her and ended with his chin resting on the top of her head. It was slightly uncomfortable, put they both fit into the frame. Jackson set the timer. He could see Annabeth glaring up at him playfully, her nose scrunched up jokingly. He laughed at her expression and heard the camera click. He removed his arm from around her shoulder and picked up his phone.

"Perfect," he said.

"Show me?" Annabeth asked.

Jackson held up his hand in the universal 'stop' motion. Finally he turned his phone to her.

He had already set it as his lock screen and Annabeth had to admit that it was a pretty cute picture.

"Send that to me, will you?"

He nodded and went into SnapChat. Annabeth got the notification a moment later and saved the photo to her camera roll. She set it as her home screen, her lock screen still set as a picture of her and her friends at Hazel's birthday party.

* * *

"Did you hear the news?" Piper asked her excitedly.

"What news?" Annabeth asked back, confused.

It was twenty past eight and the five of them were gathered around Calypso's locker. Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Even _I_ know what McLean's on about," she said.

"How exciting is it?" Annabeth asked.

"Not very, unless you're Piper, or maybe Calypso," Hazel piped up.

"Hey!" Piper complained hitting the girl lightly on the arm.

"Hey yourself," Hazel replied, jokingly rubbing her arm like it was sore.

"Anyway, what's the news?" Annabeth turned back to Piper.

"Oh yeah. Percy Jackson has a crush on someone in our year, and is going to ask them out!" Piper squealed.

"Very exciting," Annabeth said sarcastically.

"I think someone told me her name is Bethany, but there isn't anyone called Bethany in our year," Calypso added, closing her locker.

"I kind of feel bad for him. I mean, _we_ know about his crush and he doesn't even go to our school. We've never even spoken to him," Hazel said.

"Who is Percy Jackson?" Annabeth interrupted.

"Literally the hottest and most popular guy in our year? He goes to the boys school," Piper said.

"I've heard his name, but I don't think I even know what he looks like," Annabeth admitted.

"I have him on Instagram, I'll show you one second," Piper said, digging her phone out of her pocket.

The rest of them watched intensely as Piper searched Instagram for 'Percy Jackson'. She scrolled through to find the picture that showed him best. She turned her phone around for Annabeth to see. Annabeth gaped.

" _That's_ Percy Jackson?"

"I know right, he's so good-looking."

"No, I meant _I know him_."

"What?" Piper asked.

"That's the boy on my bus!"

"Hardly," Calypso said.

Annabeth also took out her phone and typed in her password. She went into her gallery to find the photo they had taken last week for his lock screen, given that her home screen background was blocked by apps. She showed it to the others.

"That's so cute!" Hazel gushed.

" _Why_ do you have this picture with him?" Thalia asked, slightly confused.

He wanted to set something as his lock screen," Annabeth shrugged, slipping the phone back into her pocket.

"Wait," Piper said. " _You're_ Percy Jackson's _lock screen_?"

"I guess," Annabeth shrugged again.

"I can't believe this," Piper sounded faint.

" _I_ can't believe you've been friends with him all this time and you never knew," Calypso added, laughing slightly.

"I thought his name was Jackson!" Annabeth defended, blushing. "We were never properly introduced. Silena was like 'oh hey, this is my friend Beth' and that was it. I heard Grover call him Jackson and I assumed that was his name."

Annabeth's friends laughed just as the bell rang for class.

* * *

That afternoon, as the bus pulled out of Annabeth's school, she prepared what to say. It was kind of embarrassing that she hadn't known his real name. She buried her head in her hands. Percy, like every Tuesday, sat next to her while Grover was at Green Club. Annabeth waited until the bus had started before saying anything.

"Your name is Percy Jackson?"

"Uh... yes," Percy said, confused.

"All this time I thought your name was Jackson."

"What?" he laughed. "How?"

"Well the first time we met, I heard Grover call you Jackson when you teased him about Juniper. And when Silena introduced us, she never actually said your name. Plus, I've never actually heard someone call you Percy," she explained.

"Okay, fair enough. But how has this literally never come up? We've known each other for quite a long time now, I can't believe you've never known my real name."

"What's it short for? Percival?" she asked, by way of distraction, ashamed she hadn't known the most basic fact about the person who was probably one of her best friends.

"Nope. Perseus."

"Wait, like the hero?"

"The only one to-"

"Get a happy ending. You've told me. So you didn't name your SnapChat after the Greek hero-"

" _I_ was named after the Greek hero."

"That's so cool!"

"Why thank you dearest Beth."

"My do you always call me 'Beth'?" Annabeth asked suddenly.

"I'm sorry? Is your name _not '_ Beth'?"

"It's Annabeth. You're like the only one who calls me 'Beth'?"

"Wait you're name is Annabeth? Silena introduced you as 'Beth'."

"Guess I'm not the only one who doesn't know the other's name," Annabeth teased.

"I always thought Beth was short for Bethany," Percy said then.

Annabeth froze.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah."

"It's just my friends told me something today," she said slowly. "It's how I found out that _you_ were Percy Jackson."

"What did they say?" Percy asked frowning.

"They said that you had a crush on someone in our year and that you were going to ask them out. They said they had heard her name was Bethany, but there's no Bethany in our year."

Percy blushed. Annabeth held her breath.

"Um... yeah," he paused. "Annabeth, would you like to go out with me?"

"You know what Jackson?" Annabeth broke out into a grin. "I think I might just do that."

Percy grinned back.

The look on Piper's face when they found out that Percy and Annabeth were going out was priceless. You had to be there.

* * *

 **Yay! Let me know what you think. It's been in my head for a while and it was so fun to write. I hope ye enjoyed it and it wasn't just a mess! I also have a multi-chapter Percabeth fake date AU, so if you want to check that out, that would be great.**

 **I might make this a two-shot with the second part being from Percy's POV, but I also don't want it to be too repetitive.**

 **Xx,**

 **Panda1912**


End file.
